The Animal Family*, BtVS, life lesson
Feb. 9th, 2004 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oiranExciting day at the vet's office. My dog is officially fat! And I'm adopting a pair of "orphan" parakeets. Which means I'll be spamming you with photos of every single pet sooner rather than later. This will bring us up to five birds and proves I do have a maternal instinct, although it's not stimulated at all by my own species.
~~~
So we're watching S5 Buffy, and...fuck: more Riley. He's nice. He loves Buffy. He's stubborn and has a bit of a temper, but nothing relationship-damaging. He looks like Howdy Doody (with really nice arms), but that's not necessarily terrible. Still, I hate him. I feel bad about it, but I keep hoping he'll DIE, DIE, DIE. I know enough about the future of the show and upcoming relationships that I'm aware he will vacate the boyfriend position eventually, but it can't be soon enough for me. Riley is making me gleefully anticipate proof of the adage "nice guys finish last." Why does this character vex and annoy me so? Well, I do have some theories, but I'm resisting letting Riley take over my brain even temporarily. I resent his very existence. When Riley episodes were airing, did people mostly love or hate him? FWIW, Mr. Glove hates him, too.
~~~
Life lesson: Pride goeth before a fall. Sprinkle hubris on top. And impatience...aaaaand a little more. Ignore for awhile, then serve cold.
I am of the opinion that more things should "goeth," rather than just "go." It's jauntier, somehow.
~~~
*the title of a book by Randall Jarrell, which I read as a child and continue to hold onto as an example of perfection on a number of fronts
~~~
So we're watching S5 Buffy, and...fuck: more Riley. He's nice. He loves Buffy. He's stubborn and has a bit of a temper, but nothing relationship-damaging. He looks like Howdy Doody (with really nice arms), but that's not necessarily terrible. Still, I hate him. I feel bad about it, but I keep hoping he'll DIE, DIE, DIE. I know enough about the future of the show and upcoming relationships that I'm aware he will vacate the boyfriend position eventually, but it can't be soon enough for me. Riley is making me gleefully anticipate proof of the adage "nice guys finish last." Why does this character vex and annoy me so? Well, I do have some theories, but I'm resisting letting Riley take over my brain even temporarily. I resent his very existence. When Riley episodes were airing, did people mostly love or hate him? FWIW, Mr. Glove hates him, too.
~~~
Life lesson: Pride goeth before a fall. Sprinkle hubris on top. And impatience...aaaaand a little more. Ignore for awhile, then serve cold.
I am of the opinion that more things should "goeth," rather than just "go." It's jauntier, somehow.
~~~
*the title of a book by Randall Jarrell, which I read as a child and continue to hold onto as an example of perfection on a number of fronts
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 06:33 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-09 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 06:39 pm (UTC)I think, too, watching the DVDs is like cheating because you can mainline the seasons instead of feeling the pain spread out over 9 months like in real time LOL. So you don't have the same amount of time to love, hate, or otherwise feel for the characters and situations.
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Date: 2004-02-09 07:46 pm (UTC)That is a very lovely way of putting it. I will probably not hate him one of these days, as I feel that it is truly unfair of me to do so in the first place.
The Mr. and I keep asking each other why we weren't watching Buffy when it was airing, and a lot of it probably had to do with a general indifference to TV at the time the series started. Watching the DVDs has made a big difference in our response, I think. Where people complain about the series going downhill after S3 for a number of reasons, the Mr. and I are seeing the focus change, but in such a compressed timeframe, we don't really have time to get tetchy about it. We're just enjoying the journey and not feeling bothered that it's not like what's come before. So in that way, I think the compressed schedule might be better.
However, there are a few peripheral characters that seem to lead big, busy lives in fanfic (from what I'm told--I'm not reading Buffy fic) who passed us by like blips. Ethan, for instance. I might not have noticed him at all, had there not been people on LJ waxing rhapsodic about his potential. If we'd not seen him come and go so quickly, I might "get" what fans like about the character.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 06:44 pm (UTC)Also, I never understood the Angel/Riley slash. It's existence just leaves me baffled.
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Date: 2004-02-09 07:50 pm (UTC)Also, I never understood the Angel/Riley slash. It's existence just leaves me baffled.
In a word: ew.
I haven't read Buffy fic. I did start one loooooong one recommended by Jacyn, but it was Spike/Xander, and I just don't buy it.
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Date: 2004-02-09 08:26 pm (UTC)When it comes to fanfic, my Buffyverse interests were always more focused on Angel. I like Angel/Spike, or indeed all types of stories centred around the dysfunctional family unit of Angel/Darla/Dru/Spike, and I can enjoy good Wesley stories. The only things I wrote myself that I'm proud of, though, are Angel/Doyle. Doyle was my boy, identification-wise. I very much liked writing him.
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Date: 2004-02-09 08:32 pm (UTC)I found Angel reasonably physically attractive in the first season of Buffy, but since then he's really too bulky for my taste. However, I like the character very much, completely independent of Buffy. I like him better on his own show than I ever did on Buffy.
I haven't the foggiest who Doyle is/was (except I know he's dead, and saw a tiny bit of him in the 100th Angel ep). Not only did he seem to be a favorite of the characters, but fans, as well, so I'm looking forward to eventually meeting him. Was he on Buffy, or just Angel? We're going to be playing catch-up with Angel soon, too.
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Date: 2004-02-09 09:45 pm (UTC)Doyle was only on Angel. He is a half-demon with an Irish accent(gotta love that Jossverse love of accents *g*) whom the Powers That Be send visions of people in need of help. In the first episode they tell him to seek out Angel and get him to help fight the evil he sees. Hence the whole Angel Investigations thing. Doyle is funny, laid-back and chatty where Angel is shut off from the world, but he carries around a lot of self-loathing because of his demon side, which didn't manifest itself till he was twenty-one, and the way he handled that. He used to be a third grade teacher, married to a woman he loved, but by the time the show starts he has no job, his wife has left him, and he's drowning in gambling debts. He drinks too much, hits on Cordelia, talks dreamily about Angel in his leather coat and finally dies a hero's death. And he's pretty much adorable. *g*
Gratuitous linkage:
Some Doyle pics:
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Doyle7.gif
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Glenn.jpg
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/CastPics/Doyle/Doyle1.jpg
And my fic Till the Moon Has Left the Sky which was rather popular when new, though I think I've come a way as a writer since then:
http://www.haelen.org/cleocalliope/BAfanfic/TillTheMoon_Isagel.html
Buffy & Angel 4Eva!
Date: 2004-02-09 07:02 pm (UTC)Re: Buffy & Angel 4Eva!
Date: 2004-02-09 07:55 pm (UTC)As I said in reply to
no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 07:10 pm (UTC)Heh. I hear ya'. May I quote you?
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Date: 2004-02-09 07:59 pm (UTC)I have never been able to baby-talk to an actual baby. I find it profoundly embarrassing. Humiliating, even. For both me and the baby, actually.
But I have special songs I sing to my pets, and cutesy names and...god. I'll just save it all for a hideously saccharine pet post tomorrow after I pick up the new kids.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 07:26 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-09 07:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 07:52 pm (UTC)My cat was put on the Atkins diet for being overweight! I have to buy special protein-rich food now. She's a chunk.
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Date: 2004-02-09 08:02 pm (UTC)Hee! Atkins for cats! Our dog is lazy, very nervous, and doesn't know how to play with people (it frightens him). I want to get him a dog friend to play with to get some exercise, and the vet agrees that would work well, which makes Mr. Glove feel ganged up on...ha! I will have the most pets of anyone!!
no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 07:54 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-09 08:12 pm (UTC)Buffy/Angel passed quickly for me, since I was watching it in huge chunks of DVD-viewing. It seemed like an important thing for Buffy while it was going on, but...not that important later. Like most first loves. It doesn't seem like the show dwells on the relationship that much, but I think that is probably partly due to the speed at which we're seeing the episodes.
I started watching Angel only this season, as we were midway through the DVDs of Buffy and I needed more Jossverse. I am enjoying the season thoroughly, so it's very amusing to me to see people complaining about how Angel sucks now.
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Date: 2004-02-10 12:25 am (UTC)And even if you didn't believe that Spike and Buffy would eventually happen, the show was always comparing Spike and Riley. And generally Spike came out looking better.
It doesn't seem like the show dwells on the relationship that much, but I think that is probably partly due to the speed at which we're seeing the episodes.
That's interesting, I wonder if was just fandom that was so obsessed with it. Or that I lingered on it too much since I was repulsed by it (by the end of season 2 the Buffy/Angel love theme literally made me nauseous). And then of course when I got my Buffy/Spike wish, I was living with a hardcore Buffy/Angel shipper so would never hear the end of it. Then again, long after all the other original ships were gone never to be mentioned again, Buffy/Angel stuff would crop up in the oddest places.
I am enjoying the season thoroughly, so it's very amusing to me to see people complaining about how Angel sucks now.
That's kind of how I feel about season 6 Buffy. All I heard on the boards was whining about how bad it was and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 07:56 pm (UTC)"Potato-nose" is the only way Riley is refered to in my house.
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Date: 2004-02-09 08:04 pm (UTC)Did you ever read The Light Princess by George MacDonald? Also illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and thus inextricably linked in my mind. My other mythic-love book from the very early years...
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Date: 2004-02-13 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-09 09:55 pm (UTC)Even Spike had better chemistry with Riley than Buffy did.
Then again, Spike has great chemistry with all sorts of inanimate objects ;D
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Date: 2004-02-09 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 12:46 am (UTC)But they still make you ping a bit for him when he leaves.
Buffy/Spike is so much better.
I never saw any slash (or lesbianism) in Buffy. Not even when they started beating us over the head with Willow/Tara. I think Joss is the only person in the world capable of making me dislike a canon gay couple. I'll take Oz/Willow over Willow/anygirl ANYday.
Spike/Andrew has so much potential.
no subject
Date: 2004-02-10 06:07 am (UTC)